Automatic space closure for doors



April 24, 1934. w.. J. MOGARR 1,956,127

AUTOMATIC SPACE CLOSURE FOR noons Filed Nov. 9, 1932 g iii; 51M

7 INVENTOR fi RIM Garr; w BY M l y ATTORN EY Patented Apr. 24, 1934 r UNETED STATES FA'EENT OFFICE AUTQMATIC SPACE CLOSURE FOR DOORS Walter J. McGarr, Cordele, Ga.

Application November 9, 1932, Serial No. 641,905

6 Claims. (01. 2016) My invention relates to improvements in autoplate 15 as having two of these cylinders, it will matic space closures for doors, windows and the be understood that this plate may be considerlike, and it consists in the combinations, conably longer and may be provided with other structions and arrangements herein described guide cylinders and springs similar to those and claimed. shown in Fig. 4. 69

An object of my invention is to provide means The plate is of a width substantially the for closing the space between hinged doors or same as the thickness of the door. It Will be windows, such as French doors, accordion doors, seen from Figs. 2 and 3 that the plate 15 is seetc., to obviate the necessity of future adjustcured to the door 6 by means of screws such to 'ments on account of shrinking or swelling of the as those shown at 6', so that the larger dimen- 65 doors. sion of the plate is flush against the forward A further object of my invention is to provide edge of the door.

a device for automatically closing the space be- The door 6 is provided with a bore 21 to retween the doors, which will serve as a metal ceive the guide cylinder 19. A rod 22 is proweather-strip, thus preventing drafts which vided with a head 23 at one end and at the other 79 might otherwise take place without such closure. end is fastened to a plate 24 which is designed A further object of my invention is to provide to extend the full height of the door, and which an automatic closure which is applicable to old has a flange portion 25, preferably V-shape in work as well as new work, which can be incross section, the edge of this flange portion be- 25; stalled quickly and at little expense. ing arranged to slide on the flange 16. An abut- 7 Other objects and advantages will appear in ment strip 26 is secured to the door 6. the following specification and the novel fea- An anti-friction member is provided for the tures of the invention will be particularly pointdoor 7. This consists of an L-shaped metal ed out in the appended claims. plate 27 which is secured by screws 27 to the My invention is illustrated in the accompanycorner of the door. The plate 27 is recessed to 80 m drawing forming part of this application, in receive a roller or wheel 28 which is journalled which: on an axle 29 carried by the plate 27. The wheel Figure l is a front view showing a set of fold- 28 is disposed partly in a recess 30 in the corner ing doors to which my invention is applicable. of the door 7. There may be a number of these Figure 2 is an enlarged section along the line rollers at different places on the door, but they 2-2 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the are all made li e that ow in fi esarrows. Consider Figure 3. When the door '7 is swung Figure 3 is a section similar to Fig. 2, but toward the door 6, the roller 28 will engage the showing the doors in open position about to be inclined surface of the flange 25 and will tend closed, and, to force the plate 2: toward the plate 15. The

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a base plate guide rod 23 will move from the position shown used in my construction. in Fig. 3 to that shown in Fig. 2, and the outer In carrying out my invention I may make use edge of the v-shaped flange 25 will ride along of folding doors, such as those shown in Fig. 1, the flange 16 of the plate 15. The parts, when or single doors, since the principle is the same the doors are shut, will be in the position shown in both instances. In Fig. 1, I have shown a set in Fig. 2. In this position it will be observed of folding doors indicated at 5, 6, 7 and 8, rethat the space between the doors is bridged by spectively. The doors 5 and 6 are hinged tothe V-shaped flange member 25 which will gether at 9 and the doors '7 and 8 at 10. The thus prevent drafts and will also make a finished door 5 is hinged to the jamb 11 by hinges 12 and appearance on the inner side of the door. That the door 8 is hinged to the jarnb 13 by hinges is to say, it will cover the crack.

14. The description thus far applies to doors in If the doors 7 or 6, or in fact, any of the doors ordinary use. shown in the folding door arrangement, should I make use of a plate 15 such as that shown shrink, tending to draw away, the plate 24 would in Fig. 4. This plate has a flange 16 at right be moved by the spring 1'7 to outer position, i. e.,

angles thereto and is provided with a curved against the edge of the door 7, so that there may leaf spring 17 which is secured to the plate at be considerable space between the edges of the 18. It has on one side thereof guide cylinders doors 6 and '7, and this space will be always cov- 19 shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4 and in full ered by the automatic closure mechanism. The 'lines in Figs. 2 and 3. While I have shown the installation of this device can be readily made.

The rods 23 are preferably connected to the plate 24. by riveting thereto, and the stop member or head 23 which limits the outward movement of the plate 24 may be screwed to the rod or fastened in any other suitable way.

For a single door, the construction would be substantially the same, the door 6 in that instance being replaced by the jamb and the plate being screwed to it in precisely the same manner as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawing.

The member 24 may be drilled to receive the bolt of the look just as the keeper is, that usually come with the looks.

I claim:

1. The combination with a pair of swinging doors, of a movable plate carried by one of said doors, said plate having a flange arranged to bear on the side of the door in all positions or" the plate, spring means carried by the door for maintaining the plate in an outer position, said flange being arranged for engagement by the companion door in its swinging movement to force the plate toward the first named door.

2. The combination with a pair of hinged doors, of a flat closure plate, a guide member carried by one of said doors, a rod secured to said plate and arranged to slide in said guide member, a spring for normally holding said plate away from said door, said plate having a cam flange extending from the bottom to the top of the door and having one edge in contact with the side of the door, the cam portion of the flange being normally in position to be engaged by the other door to force said plate toward the first named door and to permit the plate to contact with the opposed edge of said second named door when the doors are in closed position.

3. The combination with a pair of swinging doors, of an abutment carried by one door and projecting beyond the end thereof, a plate having a flanged portion secured to the abutment-carrying door, a guide member carried by said plate, a closure member, a rod secured to said closure member and extending through said guide, said closure member comprising a flat plate having a flange bridging the space between the plates, the edge of the flange being arranged to bear on the flange of the first named plate, a spring between said plates for normally forcing them apart, said bridging flange being normally in position to be engaged by the other swinging door to force the closure plate toward the first named plate and to permit the flat portion of the closure plate to abut the opposing edge of the second named door when the latter is in engagement with the abutment.

4. The combination with a pair of swinging doors, one of said doors having a recess, of a flat plate extending across the front edge of the recessed door, said plate having a laterally extending flange secured to the side of the door, a guide member carried by said plate and arranged to enter said recess, a guide rod slidable in said guide member, a closure member secured to said guide rod, a spring secured to said first named plate and arranged to bear on said closure member, said closure member comprising a flat body portion having a V-shaped flange, the edge of said V-shaped flange being arranged to bear at all times on the flange or" the first named plate, an abutment member carried by said door and an anti-friction member carried at the corner of said second named door, said closure plate being normally in position to be engaged by said antifriction member to force said closure plate toward said first named plate and to bring the edge of the door into parallelism with the flat portion of the closure plate when the second named door is against the abutment.

5. The combination with a pair of doors, one of said doors having a recess extending inwardly from the end thereof, a flat plate carried by said recessed door, said plate having a laterally extending flange arranged to be secured to the side of the door, an abutment member carried by said door on the opposite side, a guide member secured to said plate and arranged to extend into said recess, a guide rod extending through said guide member and being provided with a stop member disposed in said recess, a closure member secured to said guide rod, a spring secured to said plate and arranged to bear on said closure member, said closure member comprising a flat portion and a V-shaped flange having an edge arranged to bear on the flange of said first named plate, the second door having secured at a corner thereof a wheel bearing plate, a wheel rotatably mounted in said wheel bearing plate and arranged to engage the said V-shaped flange for forcing said closure plate toward the first named door against the tension of the spring, the edge of the second named door being parallel with and abutting the flat portion of the closure plate when the second named door is against the abutment.

6. In combination, a support, a swinging door, a movable plate carried by said support and hav ing a cam flange extending from the bottom to the top of the support and arranged to bear on one face of said support at all times, spring means carried by the support for maintaining the plate in an outer position, said flange being arranged for engagement by the door in its swinging movement to force the plate toward the support.

WALTER J. MoGARR. 

